Author's Note: I cannot believe I've written over 100k words of pirate/mermaid love story. And I have absolutely enjoyed every minute of it!

Thank you all for leaving your encouragement. I appreciate every comment :)


Time seemed to stand still as Melody stared after Harry, slowly realizing he wasn't staying. That he wouldn't be coming back for her tonight. That she was alone again, with her roiling thoughts.

It took Jane coming to the dance floor and pulling Melody toward the beverage carts for her to snap out of it.

"Here, maybe you should have something to drink," Jane said, shoving a tall glass of ice water in her face, obviously not knowing what to say to pull her out of her trance. "Are you okay?"

Melody guzzled half the glass, the cold a balm to her dry, achy throat. "He – He apologized. He explained everything and I told him exactly how I felt."

Then he told me he loved me.

Jane's frown lines unraveled into a careful half-smile. "That's good then, right?" Jane said.

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe?"

Melody downed the rest of the water and the two stood watching the dancers twirl, dresses flashing, shoes beating the floor in rhythm like a hundred drums all at once. She stared, eyes entranced by their movements, but her thoughts were far away, caught in a churning tangle of emotions that she couldn't seem to tease apart.

Jane turned back to her. "He looked good," she said in an obvious struggling attempt to make conversation.

But Melody couldn't manage more than two words in response. "He did."

That was the understatement of the century. Harry was so handsome it bordered on painful, but that wasn't the problem. Their physical attraction was undeniable.

The problem was whether she thought she could get past the lies. If she could forgive him for using magic to soften her feelings for him. It was Melody's choice. He'd left a door open and she needed to decide whether she could follow him through it.

She still couldn't believe he was half-mer.

She'd never forget the siren song of those Neverland mermaids, the power they wielded, drawing her in until she was close enough to drown in the color of their eyes, so much like Harry's. She remembered the burning rake of those talons against the skin of her calf. She glanced down, pulling the hem of her dress up to see those fading red welts streaking down her leg. Harry had said Neverland mermaids were dangerous. He knew then what he was.

But she believed Harry when he said he'd never use his song on her again. So, it wasn't the fact that he was a siren that bothered her. In fact, having a half-mer boyfriend would actually be a plus.

Imagine all the underwater fun that could be had…

"What are you going to do?" Jane asked, interrupting her very inappropriate train of thought.

What was she going to do? Well, she obviously had much more thinking to do, and this was not the right time. She'd have to finish this dance and work through a solution when music and conversation weren't a distraction.

"I'm going to dance with Wesley a little more, have fun with you guys, then I'll go back to our room and think."

"Are you coming with us tomorrow?" Jane asked. Despite the danger, mostly everyone had decided to help crew for the Lost Revenge. Especially now that Uma had learned some protection spells, they'd all agreed that facing Sparrow made sense. Jane, Carlos, Jay, and Uma and Gil and the pirates of course had all agreed to set sail tomorrow. The only one that couldn't be convinced was Lonnie, saying that even that short time on the Revenge had made her seasick.

"I don't know yet," Melody said.

Yesterday she was dead set on no. But now…

The waltzing session slowed to a close and the DJ was back taking requests.

Jane snatched the empty water glass from her hand and set it on a table along the wall. "Come on, let's dance."

And Fairy Godmother's daughter led Melody out onto the floor for an amazing hour of dancing, laughing, talking, and more snacking. Wesley spent most of the time hanging out with Melody and her friends since his roommate had hooked up with a girl from his Potions class. Now and then, she couldn't help glancing at the door, wishing a certain pirate might change his mind and make another appearance. But her friends would quickly pull her wandering eyes back to them, making her laugh with ridiculous dance moves and providing a lift to her frayed spirits.

When the second round of ballroom dancing was announced, Wesley and Melody found their stride together much faster. She felt lighter on her feet, less distracted, and was able to really enjoy each step.

"So, you two worked it out, didn't you?" Wesley said, pausing for breath as one song came to a close, and another was about to begin.

"Why do you say that?"

"Your real smile is back," he said.

And that was when she realized that Wesley Darling was an absolute gem and she needed to introduce him to one of her friends before one of these shallow little princesses sank her claws into him.

"Now there's a new look I haven't seen," Wesley said, studying her face.

"I'm conspiring," she said, honestly. "You're just too sweet, Wesley."

He cocked his head, setting his feet for the next song.

"Conspiring huh?" he said, leading her back toward the middle of the dance floor as the next song picked up.

"Yes…" she followed him into the next waltz. "After this song, I want you to meet my friend, Uma."


As promised, she introduced Wesley to her pirate friends, Uma, Gil, Gonzo and Desiree. Eventually both groups of friends began to mingle, with the pirates joining Jay, Lonnie, Jane and Carlos. Between the ten of them, they'd probably destroyed two entire appetizer carts on their own.

With a little nudge, Wesley had finally gathered up the courage to ask Uma to dance. And that was when Melody slipped out for the night.

The walk back to her room felt dreamlike, her thoughts circling like mist on the outskirts of her consciousness. Once alone in her room again, Melody didn't even bother to change from her gown before she sank down on her bed, finally ready to mull over the events of this evening.

She replayed every last detail of her conversation with Harry. Tried to recall exactly how his words had made her feel before the memory faded. She re-lived the hurt and pain she'd experienced over the last few days.

She went back in time to his siren song at the beach. He'd pulled her in then, made her want to touch him and she could remember being drawn to him, the way it felt to hold his hand. All of that had been his siren's spell and she remembered feeling very embarrassed about her behavior the next day. She'd even talked to Jane about whether he'd given her a love spell before they'd brushed that idea aside. She'd had a feeling there was something off about that night.

But she remembered something else. That same night, she could recall wondering what he would taste like, even leaning in to try to kiss him and being interrupted by him talking to her. He'd stopped her from doing more than just holding his hand.

Then, there was the sword fighting date on the beach. He didn't sing to her that night at all, in fact, he was the one who wanted to wait before moving forward physically. When it came to their physical relationship, he'd always made her set the boundaries beforehand. He'd known then what he was and it was obvious he'd been trying to protect her. He'd tried to make her take it slow, out of respect.

But why did he hide the truth about being a siren from her? Was it his father's threat to kill anyone that talked of it? Did his father shame him so gravely for being like his mother that he'd buried the truth from everyone, including himself?

She couldn't understand that part of him, the part that could hold such a huge secret for so long.

At one point, after dredging up all of these thoughts and feelings, Melody even started writing a list of pros and cons to try to keep her thinking rational. She looked out the window, noticing that it had begun to rain, and scribbled all of her reasons onto that piece of paper, her pen scratching, joining the sounds of raindrops against the glass.

But at the end of it all, as she stared down at her list, she knew that this wasn't a problem she could solve through logic like she would a statistics assignment. This was a matter of the heart, and for that, she'd have to trust her own.

She stood and walked to her dresser, retrieving the black box wrapped in a red bow. She set it on her nightstand and stared at it for a while before finally unraveling the tie and opening the box. Her fingers trailed over the shiny blade, over the scales of the golden hilt until Harry's words echoed painfully loud in her memory.

I care so much for yeh, that it hurts.

I love yeh, Melody.

She closed her eyes and imagined his wide smile.

She let herself remember what he'd looked like tonight, the color of his eyes and the soft warmth of his voice as he told her he loved her. A tingling exhilaration spread from head to toe when she thought of him saying those words.

And Melody remembered guarding a feeling deep inside of her chest, an emotion that she thought had been carved out by Harry's manipulation. But no, this feeling was so potent that it had somehow sown itself right back where it had been, and despite everything, she sensed it was growing, blossoming, and that enduring emotion was the reason she couldn't just walk away from him now. That warmth in her heart was the reason she had started missing him again, the reason she was holding his gift in her hand, and the reason she was even considering forgiving him now.

It was Harry who had spoken the name for that tender feeling first.

Love.

She whispered her secret confession to the curved blade of the dagger in her lap. "Seas, Harry. I think I might love you, too."

The powerful word echoed in her thoughts for a long time as she sat staring at Harry's gift.

Lightning flashed outside as the sudden storm seemed to intensify. It was strange, the skies were so clear when she'd walked back from the dance.

Someone pounded on her door, five thundering slams that rattled the shelves on the wall. She jumped, replaced the dagger's box on her nightstand, and went to the door, checking out the peephole first.

Wesley Darling stood outside, completely drenched from the rain and nervously shifting his weight from side to side.

She opened the door to find him still dressed for the ball, but without his mask. That meant she had a full view of his horrified expression, pale, mouth hanging open with panting breaths. His blonde curls were plastered to his face and his pants were dirt-stained and torn along the knee. Water from his clothes and mud from his shoes were mixing in the growing puddle at his feet.

"Melody." His voice was a throaty rasp. "They're gone."

The world tilted and she had to steady herself against her door jamb to keep from hitting the floor. "Who's gone?"

She wasn't sure why she asked as her gut was already screaming at her that she knew exactly who he was talking about.

"Your friends. There was… the power went out. There were pirates, they looked… off. Then they took Uma. We were dancing and they took her. They took Jane, Carlos, Uma's friends..."

She was shaking her head erratically now, cold sweat had begun to coat her palms.

"No. No. They can't. It's too soon. It hasn't been three full days yet. He couldn't get here so fast against the wind." She was babbling now. She knew she was but she couldn't stop it. "And, they wouldn't risk the Auradon authorities. What about the army?"

Wesley's voice was grave. "Melody. The Army was there, outside the hall, but it didn't matter. They're gone."

He held up the pair of winning golden colombina masks, one of which was cracked, lying at an awkward angle in his hand. "They took her."

Melody could practically feel her poor frazzled brain cells shutting down, refusing to transmit any more information after what Wesley had said. But her body was somehow moving without her brain and she rushed back into her room, shoving on her boots and putting on a jacket over her gown.

"Where are you going?" he asked from the doorway.

She paused. Weapons. She'd need weapons. She wrapped her sword belt around her waist and went to strap her dagger on her upper thigh but the mermaid cut of her gown was too tight. She fumbled with it, but couldn't strap on the holster. There wasn't time for this.

Screw the dress.

She slashed through the bottom of her gown with her dagger, ripping off the layers of tulle cascading down below, leaving just a short skirt, now with a slit up one thigh.

That gave her room to strap down her weapon.

"Melody," Wesley repeated. "Are you going to tell me what's going on? Where are you going?"

"Harry," she said, voice choked. "I have to warn Harry. He left the dance, maybe there's still time."

She glanced at his gift on the side table and made her decision. She needed to warn Harry before they got to him, too, and he'd need an off-hand weapon if they were going to fight.

She hooked Harry's dagger on the inside of her jacket, grabbed for her sword, and then she was running past Wesley.

"Wait," Wesley said, grabbing her arm from behind. "I know you're going after them, which by the way I think is a very bad idea. But I also know you won't listen to me anyway, so I want to give you this." He produced a small glass vial of golden dust from his coat pocket and Melody recognized the substance immediately.

"Pixie dust!" she said. "But where –" She stopped. Of course his family would have access to pixie dust, his mother was probably one of the first people outside of Peter Pan himself to ever use the stuff.

"I keep it for a rainy day." His lip wobbled into a sad smile. Gods, poor Wesley. How had she managed to drag him into this too?

"Thank you," she said, laying a hand on his arm. Then she felt her brain finally begin to catch up with her legs and she was working out a back up plan, in case… well, in case she wasn't enough. In case she…

"I need you to call my mom, Wesley," she said, scrambling back to her desk to pick up her phone. If her friends were already captured, this was her last option. "If I do it myself, I'm going to lose it. She'll try to convince me not to go."

"Which would be very smart."

She ignored him. "Tell her what's going on. I should have done it myself a long time ago. Tell her Zach Sparrow and crew of The Black Pearl have all of my friends and he's taking them to Neverland, probably to raise the Jolly Roger. I don't know if my family can do anything anyway, since Sparrow can control the sea and the weather with Triton's trident and sword. It's probably too risky for them to send the Seaside Navy, but if Sparrow's not stopped he'll control an entire fleet of ghost ships within days."

Wesley's mouth made a small 'o' as he stood trying to let that massive knowledge dump settle in. "The Black Pearl?"

She shoved the phone into his hands and showed him the pass code. There would be no cell service where she was going so it would be useless to her anyway.

A loud scraping issued from somewhere down the hallway and Wesley's eyes expanded. "You need to go."

She gripped Wesley in a tight, wet hug, then ran, stashing the pixie dust in her jacket pocket as she flew down the hall. She watched Wesley duck down another corridor leading out into the side courtyard.

Her heart pounded to the beat of her own footsteps as she ran the opposite direction from where the sound had been coming from.

This was not supposed to happen. They were supposed to have time. The Auradon military was supposed to deter him. Supposed to…

She choked on a laugh. Zach Sparrow didn't care about all of those safeguards.

And he was surely coming for her next.

But maybe there was a chance Harry was still alright. Maybe the two of them could pull off another miracle and save their friends.

She dashed the long way around the girls' dorm, ducking low around the manicured hedges to stay out of sight. She made her bootsteps quiet, just the way Harry had shown her, and circled around to the guys' side. She slipped through the entry into the yellow glow of the hallway, sprinting past the closed doors, room one, two, three…

Until she stood, shoulders heaving, staring at door number seven.

It was open a crack.

She grabbed for the handle. The cold bite of the metal stung her skin and she shivered.

The door creaked open and she was staring at Harry's overturned chair, his glass lamp shattered on the floor, his maps and books strewn across the space. But even though she was seeing it, her brain was not allowing her to process what it meant. Because Harry had just stepped out. He would be right back.

Her mouth was open, and she thought she was breathing, but she couldn't be quite sure.

Wet muddy boot prints trailed down the hallway and she blinked to make them go away. Praying this was all a dream. But when a briny dash of the salty sea and the stench of rotten meat drifted from Harry's room, her fears were confirmed.

And even in her paralyzed state of shock, Melody received Zach Sparrow's message, loud and clear.

He was going to have the last of Triton's sapphires even if he had to kill everyone Melody cared about to get it.